I am discovering that the Christian life is the most exciting
life in the world. I have not always been convinced of this. When
I was a young man I thought it was the number one impediment in
my life, the thing that was keeping me from enjoying an abundant
life. But I am coming to see that God knows how life is supposed
to be lived. God wants to fill us and flood us and use us. And
to my way of thinking, there is really nothing quite as exciting
as knowing God in a personal way and seeing him at work. There
is an element of risk and adventure, of victory and of conquest.
The apostle Paul said that we have turned from idols to serve
the living and the true God.

The Bible has some very strong words about what the Christian
life is intended to be. Paul says, "Thanks be to God who
always leads us in triumph." Now that is an amazing
verse. That means that when we walk in the Spirit, even though
we may not see results, we can expect God to be triumphing in
us. John says, "This is the victory that overcomest the world,
our faith." Christ says, "In the world ye shall have
tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
John says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world." Paul says, "Sin shall not have dominion
over you." There is no habit or sin that can reign in your
life. Christ says, "The works that I do you shall do, and
greater works than I do shall you do, because l go to the Father."
Paul says, "We are more than conquerors through him that
loved us." And again, to Timothy he says, "God has not
given us a spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and a sound
mind."

Now those are words of tremendous encouragement. We can expect
certain things in our life. We can expect, for instance, that
there can be no habit that will control us, no sin that can have
mastery in our lives. There is never a circumstance for which
we are not adequate. There is never a temptation that we have
to give way to, never a fear, frustration or failure that will
rule in our lives, no pressure too great. no person we cannot
face, no situation too difficult. That is why I think the Christian
life is exciting, because if these things are true, they are the
very things that men are looking for in life. This is why Christ
said, "I am come that ye might have life, and might have
it more abundantly." There ought to be a great overwhelming
sense of joy and freedom, release and liberty in our lives.

Now why is it that we do not find this to be true? Why are we
not experiencing this kind of life? If we have all of God's resources
for life, why is it that we are not availing ourselves of what
he has given to us? Why are there so many defeated, frustrated
lives? Why do circumstances and people and moods and the weather
control our lives? Why are there so few real miracles in our lives?
Why is our witness so ineffective and neutral?

I would like to share with you some answers from the life of an
Old Testament man, Caleb. Here is an amazing character, and one
of many characters in the Scriptures who give us some very basic
answers to life. I think we can find in his life an example of
the abundant life and how to achieve it. Paul said that these
things--these Old Testament events--happened for our admonition.
This is sober history. These things actually occurred. Yet the
primary import of these events is spiritual. We can learn from
them. The life of Caleb will supply some basic spiritual principles
by which we can obtain the abundant life that we are looking for.

First, I would like to give you a little bit of background, because
this helps us to understand something of the events that are recorded
in this 14th chapter of Joshua, from which comes the incident
in Caleb's life which we will be studying. In Numbers 13, we have
the first mention of this man, Caleb, who was one of twelve spies
sent into the land of Canaan to reconnoiter and to bring back
a report to Moses. The children of Israel had left the land of
Egypt some months prior to this, had traveled across the Sinai
peninsula, and now they were standing on the edge of the promised
land. Moses selected twelve men, one representative from each
tribe, to explore the land. God had already told the nation what
they could expect. He told them this was a land flowing with milk
and honey, that there were adequate resources to sustain them
as a nation, but there would also be problems. There were hostile
nations living in the land--there would be opposition, and it
would be with difficulty that they would conquer the land--but
the land was theirs; the promise was secure. There could be no
doubt in their minds about the final outcome because God had promised
that they would have the land. And so Moses commissioned these
spies and sent them into the land to bring back a report. Numbers
13 records how they traveled from the extreme southern region
of the land all the way to the north. When they were about halfway
through their exploration they arrived in the area near what is
now Jerusalem, at a mountain called Hebron. It was a mountain
that had a great deal of significance to Israel because it was
the place where Abraham had received the Covenant securing the
land for the nation, and had been given the assurance of a seed
for a nation. It was there that Abraham and Sarah lived, along
with Isaac and Jacob.

But after Abraham and his descendants had left it, the land had
been occupied by a group of people called the Anakim. Here was
the place of blessing, but surrounding it, a hostile nation, the
Anakim, the sons of Anak. Now it is interesting how the Scriptures
very often give us a little sidelight that at the time does not
seem very significant, but when we put all the pieces together
we see how it fits. The sons of Anak were an infamous tribe, a
savage group of people that were known throughout the land of
Palestine. In Scripture there are three names that are recorded,
names given to them by neighboring tribes. One group of people
called them Emim. Emim means "the terrors," "the
terrible ones," "the horrible ones." Another group
of people called them the Rephaim, "the ghosts," "the
shadowy ones." The Hebrew people later called them the Nephilim,
"the fallen ones," the ones who were descended from
the great giants of Genesis 6. One of the relatives of Anak was
a man named Og who was a giant. Scripture tells us he was so big
that his bed measured 12 feet by 6 feet. So we get a little bit
of information about these people and we see they were a pretty
formidable group of foes. They were like the man who crossed a
parrot and a lion. The offspring was a pretty odd-looking creature,
but when it talked, people listened. That is what these people
were, a fearful group of foes surrounding the place of greatest
blessing. the mount called Hebron.

When the spies came back they reported on the land and the climate.
It was good land, suitable for them. They brought back evidence--a
great bunch of grapes they had picked near the mount of Hebron,
so great it had to be carried between two men. They reassured
the people that it was exactly as God had said--a land flowing
with milk and honey. The only problem was that the sons of Anak
were here. And the amazing thing is that, despite all of God's
promises, they began to describe this group of people in the most
fearful terms. The book of Numbers records that a great wave of
anxiety swept over the people and, despite God's promises, they
would not go in. They would not enter the land. Caleb quieted
the people and explained that they were adequate for this. Remember,
Caleb was one of the spies. He had seen the Anakim, but he had
also seen God. He knew that God had said the land was theirs if
they would follow him in obedience. He makes a very interesting
statement. He says, literally, "We are strong with strength."
We are strengthened with God's strength, we have every resource
to go into the land. God has promised it. The promise is secure.
Now let's take it, let's go. Rather than responding to his plea
the people picked up stones to stone him. They were so afraid
that they wanted to kill the man who exhibited courage.

Now to condense a lot of material, the rest of the account records
how God came down in his glory and confronted the people and told
them that he would destroy them as a nation. Moses interceded
for them and pointed out that God's glory would be at stake. The
other nations would despise him if he obliterated the nation and
so God pardoned them. But he swore in his wrath, as the book of
Hebrews says, they would never enter his rest. The only men among
them who would go into the land would be Caleb and Joshua, who
was another of the spies and who had supported Caleb. This was
literally fulfilled. The ten spies who had brought back the evil
report died of a plague. In the forty years of wandering in the
wilderness that followed, death came to all the members of the
nation of Israel who were twenty years old and upward at the time
of this faithlessness. They could not enter the land because of
unbelief. Only Caleb and Joshua could enter the land.

We pick up the story in Joshua 14, forty-five years later. The
generation that rebelled against God was dead. Only these two
men, Joshua and Caleb, remained. The first part of chapter 13
records that the Lord said to Joshua, "You are old and advanced
in years and there remains yet very much land to be possessed."
In the forty-five years that had passed they had wandered for
forty years in the wilderness. Then there had been a campaign
of five years in the land of Palestine. They had driven out most
of the nations that had occupied the land and now they were ready
to partition the land of Palestine among the nation of Israel.
And as Joshua began to divide the inheritance we read that Caleb,
the son of Jephunnen, broke into this process and made his claim
of land. You see, God had promised forty-five years before that
Caleb would have the land that he wanted. He would have the mountain
of Hebron. Three additional times in the book of Numbers this
covenant is confirmed. Caleb would have the land because "he
wholly followed Jehovah," because he was obedient, he was
willing to walk by faith. And now Caleb again claims his inheritance.

As far as we know, Caleb was not a Jew. He was of the family of
Edomites who had been attached to the nation of Israel. He had
no national right--no birthright, but, on the authority of God's
word, he was willing to claim what was his, by right, because
God had promised it to him. This gives us the first clue to the
spirit of this man--the first principle that leads us into the
abundant life: he wanted what God wanted for him. Hebron
means fellowship. It is the place of God's blessing, the place
of personal experience of God, the place where Abraham met God
face to face, where Abraham was called the friend of God. It stands
in our own experience for the place, as Paul says, where we come
to "know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings." Where there is an intimate, personal
experience with Jesus Christ in our life--the place of blessing
and service.

This is what God wants for us--the best. This is why it is not
so difficult to yield our will to the authority of Jesus Christ.
He has 20/20 foresight; we have 20/20 hindsight. Therefore, to
yield up our will to him is not a difficult thing if we understand
that he really loves us and wants us to enjoy the place of fellowship
and enjoyment and the abundant life of which he speaks. Hebron
is the place of fellowship.

But the Anakim are the obstacles to fellowship. They are always
around. They are the things that keep us from yielding our will
to his authority. Caleb wanted the place of fellowship. He wanted
the very best, therefore the Anakim were no problem to him. He
could have retired to an old soldiers' home. He had fought the
good fight. He had endured this generation of people when they
groaned and complained and groused in the wilderness. He had fought
to secure the land, he had given his best, he was seeking God's
very best for his life. At all costs he wanted to have God's best
and so he chose the mountain, the difficult place. rather than
a quiet, secluded valley away from the heat of battle. I think
this is a starting point in our life. When we are willing to want
what God wants for us--no matter what the consequences may be--we
begin to live. We begin to enjoy a kind of abandonment and freedom
in our lives that we can know in no other way. Many of you have
had the privilege of seeing people give their lives to Jesus Christ
and to discover the freedom and the liberty of that new life.
And perhaps we have all experienced in our own lives the times
when we have been arguing with God and refusing to submit to his
authority, to give way to him, to allow him his right to reign
and rule in our lives, but then finally we have enjoyed the freedom
and liberty that results from that submission.

This is what sustained Caleb in the wilderness. For forty years
he had borne with these people. Imagine what it must have been
like to be the only senior citizen in a group of young people,
all of them at least twenty years his junior, as they wandered
in the wilderness, complaining about the weather, complaining
about their leadership. complaining about circumstances. Yet all
the time Caleb was making plans to enter the land. This is why
Caleb said he was just as strong today as he was the day he was
sent out as a spy--just as buoyant, just as eager. While they
complained, he was plotting strategy. He could hardly wait. He
was saying, "Let me at those Anakim!" What sustained
his life? He wanted God's very best and knew that God was going
to give it to him. And I am convinced that the same attitude of
expectancy should be ours. When we give up our rights, when we
allow Jesus Christ to take his place on the throne, when we want
what he wants, we begin to enjoy life. Christ said that if a man
would save his life, he must lose it. And if the seed would grow
and come to maturity it must first die. It must first be planted.
Life comes only through death, a giving up of our own rights to
his authority, his rule. That is the first principle, he wanted
what God wanted.

The second principle is: he believed what God said. He
had implicit faith in God's word. Verse 9:

Moses swore on that day, saying, "Surely
the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance
for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed
the Lord my God."

If you track back through the Old Testament you find that it
was God who said this through Moses. He said that Caleb would
enjoy the land. Just as certainly as the rest of the tribe would
not enjoy his rest, Caleb and Joshua would. And so, on the strength
of that promise Caleb says in verse 12,

So now give me this hill country of which
the Lord spoke on that day; for you have heard on that day how
the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities: it may be
that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out as
the Lord said.

Caleb believed God. There is a statement in the book of Romans
in reference to Abraham. It says that he staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised
he was able also to do. That is how faith operates. It claims
what God says is true and accepts God's analysis of every problem.
So Caleb took God at his word and he took the hill. In verses
12-19 of chapter 15 we read:

According to the commandment of the Lord to
Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among
the people of Judah, Kiriatharba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the
father of Anak). And Caleb drove out from there the three sons
of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.
And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir; now
the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. And Caleb said,
"Whoever smites Kiriath-sepher, and takes it to him will
I give Achsah my daughter as wife." And Othmel the son of
Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah
his daughter as wife. When she came to him, she urged him to
ask her father for a field; and she alighted from her ass, and
Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to
him, "Give me a present; since you have set me in the land
of the Negeb, give me also springs of water." And Caleb
gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

The land of the Negeb is a desert in the southern part of Palestine.
God not only gave Caleb what he wanted but he used Caleb as an
instrument of blessing in the lives of others. It was Caleb who
was used to share his inheritance with those in need.

Now this is what faith is all about. Faith is really not that
difficult--faith is simply taking God at his word. When Paul was
shipwrecked, he said to the men around him, "Sirs, be of
good cheer. For I believe God, that it shall be even as it was
told me." God had told him prior to this that he was going
to get him to Rome. And although all the circumstances around
him indicated that he would never make it to Rome--the storm,
the ship breaking up out in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea,
no help visible--Paul still said, "Sirs, I believe God, that
it should be even as it was told unto me." That is what faith
is. It's simply accepting what God says, venturing yourself on
it. It is a willingness to submit yourself to God's leading, to
try it out, to experience in your own life that it really works.
That is what honors God. And it is those two principles applied
in our own lives that allow us to enjoy the abundant life. First
of all, a willingness to want what God wants, to abandon ourselves
to God and to what he wants in our lives, And secondly, a willingness
to believe what God says--that there is no opposition that can
stand in our way. There is no habit, no sin, no circumstance,
no person, there is absolutely nothing that can keep the place
of blessing from us if we want it and if we trust God for it.

Gracious Father, we thank you that you have called us. It
is a great call, and you have told us, "Faithful is he who
has called you, and he will do it." What a privilege to
know that the victory is secure, that we can have the place of
blessing and personal experience of your love and fellowship,
that we can enjoy your presence, that we can be your friend,
as Abraham was. We know there are obstacles. There are always
obstacles to the worthwhile. But we know that obstacles are no
problem to you. If we walk by faith the victory is ours. This
is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Make
us people of faith, willing to trust you, to launch out no matter
what it costs, and believe you for great things. We ask this
in Jesus' name, Amen.

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